Intel has agreed to buy specific high-performance-computing interconnect assets from server company Cray, the chip maker said on Tuesday.

Intel's acquisition of Cray's interconnect assets will help build the high-performance-computing product portfolio

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Intel has agreed to buy specific high-performance-computing interconnect assets from server company Cray, the chip maker said on Tuesday.

Intel gets access to Cray's "interconnect personnel and intellectual property" with the agreement, Intel said in a statement. The technology and expertise will help Intel build its high-performance-computing portfolio as it looks to scale performance on servers, Intel said.

Intel did not disclose the amount it will pay Cray.

Cray has made a name for itself as a supercomputer company. The company's XT5-HE supercomputer -- also called Jaguar -- at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is the third-fastest supercomputer in the world, according to the Top500 list of fastest supercomputers issued in November.

Cray's interconnect team is also responsible for building the interconnect to be used in the supercomputer code-named Cascade, which will use Intel's x86 chips.

"The acquisition of Cray's industry-leading interconnect technology and expertise provides exceptional strategic assets that further enhance Intel's HPC portfolio," said Diane Bryant, vice president and general manager of Intel's Datacenter and Connected System Group, in the statement.

Intel is looking to build up its high-performance-computing portfolio through faster processors and quicker interconnects. The company in July bought networking vendor Fulcrum Systems to build its data center portfolio, and in January acquired InfiniBand assets from Qlogic in a cash transaction worth US$125 million. Intel is building a chip-to-chip and server interconnect based on Qlogic's Infiniband assets.